Pistorius Denies Murder in Killing of Girlfriend

A file photo shows South African paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius competeing at the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, in Daegu, South Korea, on 28 August 2011. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Prominent Olympic athlete Oscar Pitorius flatly denied on Tuesday that he intended to take the life of his girlfriend when he opened fire at a closed bathroom door at his home last week.

"I fail to understand how I could be charged with murder, let alone premeditated, " he said in an affidavit read to a South African courtroom,.

"I had no intention to kill my girlfriend," he said, according to the New York Times.

Pistorius claimed that he had heard a noise in the bathroom and felt "a sense of terror" on the night he fatally shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, insisting he thought someone had broken into his home.

In his statement, the athlete pointed out that he loved Steenkamp "deeply." He also said he had received death threats in the past and kept a firearm beside his bed.

Pistorius was charged with the premeditated murder of his girlfriened by a South African prosecutor on Wednesday.

The victim, 30-year-old Reeva Steenkamp, was a well-known South African model. It is believed that she was shot four times.

The 26-year-old suspect was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics.

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